Album Review: Roll With by The Dodges

Today we're featuring another new release from the always excellent La Escalera Records. Today I'm reviewing San Diego based four piece The Dodges new EP Roll With. The Dodges, who consist of Mike Hertel (guitar and vocals), Kyle Porter (drums), Alex Snyder (guitar) and Donnie Cardenas (bass), play a great mix of indie and infectious pop punk music. Enough intro now, let's check out Roll With.

First up is the song Chasing Amy. This is by far the shortest song on the album and I must admit I found it kind of strange that they'd open with such a short song. Then the opening guitars and those pounding drums bring the song to a crashing opening and I know exactly why this was picked as the opener. There's an immediate energy in the song that has you wanting to hear more and more. Mike Hertel's vocals really stand out. They're quite clean in sound with just a hint of the punk gruff about it. This little hint of gruff really helps add the emotion into the track. The second track is titled Old Habits. Old Habits is about trying not to let yourself slip and go back to your old bad ways. This song is indie pop punk at its absolute finest. The jangly guitars stood out quickly as do some more pounding drums. Midway through, the band really show off some great musicianship with an extended instrumental sections which include a kick-ass guitar solo. It's superbly catchy as well and you'll pick up on the lyrics at a great speed so you'll be singing along with the band before the song has even finished its first run through.

Dilemmas is quick in getting started. When listening to the song I was really reminded of long running rock act The Goo Goo Dolls. The song is about making bad decisions constantly and becoming known for it. The song features yet another fantastic guitar solo that helps to break the song up a bit. This really helps given its lengthy running time of over four minutes. The next song, Ordinary Joke, is another that goes past the four minute mark. This one is just fantastic. Everything about it seems much harder than its predecessor. The guitars are strummed harder, the drums are hit harder and there is a great amount of attitude in Hertel's vocal. There is also a great amount of energy in the song that keeps you into the song and by its ending you are almost breathless.

The fifth song on the EP is titled The Hits You Dodge. It begins with a great rolling drumbeat and honestly superb drumming throughout by Kyle Porter. He provides an strong back beat to a high tempo pop punk song about happily being different from the crowd. Something that really does set The Dodges apart from their many of their contemporaries is the amazing skill that they show with their instruments. So far on the EP it's like they're trying to outdo the guitar solo from the previous song. The penultimate song on the EP is Get Serious. That Goo Goo Dolls similarity returns here with more high energy indie pop punk. There is also quite an upbeat feeling to the song that adds to its infectious charm. Then we have the final song Thrive which actually begins with a bit of a dark tone. It's about taking your chance for excellence and not being held back. I love this message and I love this song. The song does feel more restrained than the other songs on Roll With but of course it finishes with another great solo.

Roll With is a lovely slice of indie pop punk. It shows excellent musicianship and some great songwriting. It also doesn't really sound much like anything else in its genre so there is a great freshness to it that really makes it stand out. Looking forward to big things from The Dodges.

Stream and download Roll With here: https://laescalerarecords.bandcamp.com/album/roll-with

Like The Dodges here: https://www.facebook.com/Thedodgesband/

This review was written by Colin Clark.

Album Review: Post- by Jeff Rosenstock (by Dan Peters)

Post Record Company

Hands up who had a hangover on New Years Day? I’ll put mine up. Do you know who else did? Probably Jeff Rostenstock too. He played a show at the Boot and Saddle in Philadelphia on NYE and then the very next morning POST- appeared on the internet. This is an album with absolutely none of the expected secondary considerations seemingly attached to it. No marketing, no previous reviews or associated videos or singles released prior. Just one day he’s touring and the next hello world! And why not? Currently looking at Spotify, it’s had hundreds of thousands of plays and by all accounts seems to be well received.

It’s a ballsy move and one that the record industry should rightly be terrified of. Jeff released this as a “pay what you want” album on Bandcamp. Sure you can pay more for things like physical media and whatnot but if you only have £1 to spend on music and you want to own something incredible then that option is there for you, or just have it for free. I love everything about this approach to music production. There is currently a large barrier to entry for young artists but if this kind of attitude became more prevalent then maybe it would be easier for new bands to pick up momentum. It also strips out any meddling from outside sources, which works perfectly when your subject matter could be considered as a hot potato issue, although let’s be honest, saying you’re disgusted by the Trump administration and US politics isn’t exactly unpopular opinion these days.

So the album itself. Yes, it’s great. As I mentioned it’s very much a current events reaction so it’ll be interesting to see how it holds up in five or ten years time, however judging by the stark relevance of punk songs written during the Bush administration today, the pessimist in me thinks it’s gonna hold up just fine. The instrumental side of things here is very satisfying. Everything is chunky and sounds big and crisp as snow. Jeff has enough charisma in his voice to fill the national mall. POST- is basically a concept album with everything running through the same themes of helplessness in the face of a country effectively shooting itself in the leg, from the ballsy 7 minute USA right through to the backhanded acceptance of Let Them Win (“They can profit from their lies again”). Anti Trump sentiment isn’t exactly breaking new ground but it’s something that should not stop being said as long as there are people who will support it. Rather than being stark and oppressive political fact stating, it’s more of a personal struggle and that endears me to each song so much more than the fact I agree. The sadness and melancholy is something I’m positive anyone picking up a Jeff Rosenstock album will undoubtedly relate to and, for that, this really deserves to get a listen from anyone that can – which in this case is everyone since it’s free to those who can’t afford it.

In conclusion this is an album literally anyone can and surely will enjoy and something of a landmark in terms of the way it was released. More of this please.

Stream and download Post- here: https://jeffrosenstock.bandcamp.com/album/post

Specialist Subject are handling the physical release in the UK here: http://shop.specialistsubjectrecords.co.uk/products/608360-jeff-rosenstock-post-lp-cd

Like Jeff Rosenstock here: https://www.facebook.com/jeffrosenstockmusic/

This review was written by Dan Peters.

Album Review: Aching Waits by Reunions

Reunions are a four piece punk rock band from San Francisco, California. In January the band, who are influenced by the likes of Jawbreaker, Hot Water Music and Banner Pilot, put out their second EP titled Aching Waits on La Escalera Records. I've been a fan of most things La Escalera have put out over the past couple of years so eagerly checked out Reunions.

First up on Aching Waits is the song Head North. What we have here is a mid-tempo melodic punk song. Whenever I hear bands like Reunions, I think it's mature punk for adults rather than the bratty in your face punk we loved in our youth. The track is about feeling the need to run away but ultimately deciding it's best to stay where you are. I believe this urge to run is due to the current political state that the United States is dealing with at the moment and thinking that moving to Canada or Mexico would be a better idea. Following this is Deep Red. On Deep Red you discover that Reunions have two different vocalists. On Aching Waits the vocals are sung in a deeper, raspy style but on Deep Red we have more of a poppy style. I loved the section on Deep Red when both vocalists take turns delivering lines - it sounds incredible. This song has such a great sound and I feel like it must be great when played live as there are plenty of moments for those wonderful fist-in-the-air sing-a-long moments we all love.

The third song is the EP's title track, Aching Waits. With Aching Waits the band return to the mature punk style they played so well on the opening song Head North. I feel like there is a real accessibility to Reunions - the punks will love them and I can also see fans of a more mainstream rock sound will also enjoy them if they give them a chance. Aching Waits is about struggling with anxiety and not being able to control it. The song builds towards a big, passionate finale where the singer really puts a lot of emotion into the final couple of lines. The final song, Breathing Like A Hold Up is another that looks at the issues of mental health and anxiety. There is a feeling of epicness in the song that has a few high and low points, just like a rollercoaster. The band time these different sections perfectly, knowing when exactly to take you to the highest points and then bring you back down. I particularly liked the final part of the song where things get quiet and the vocals become soft and then… KAPOW! we get the final big build towards the song and the EP's conclusion.

La Escalera Records always put out such fantastic punk rock and Aching Waits by Reunions is no exception. Like I said, it's more of a mature and adult punk rock style and is really enjoyable. Us punk rockers all have to mature at some point but, fear not, there is still brilliant punk rock music out there for us.

Stream and download Aching Waits here: https://reunionsband.bandcamp.com/

Like Reunions here: https://www.facebook.com/reunionsband/

This review was written by Colin Clark.

Album Review: Depression Club by Trophy Jump

We have a first time on Colin's Punk Rock World today. First band we have featured from Croatia! The band in question are Trophy Jump. They are a four piece skate punk band from Zagreb featuring Tony Alex (guitar and vocals), Hardlike Pete (Guitar and backing vocals), Johnny Despair (bass and backing vocals) and Marc DeMarco (drums and backing vocals). On Christmas day Trophy Jump released their debut album which they titled Depression Club. Always keen to check out new bands from all over the world I jumped at the chance to review the album.

Depression Club starts with a song of the same name. The thing that struck me first about the song, and the band's sound in general, is Tony Alex's unique vocal. It's a higher pitch that I'm used to hearing and it very much reminds me of Phillip Hill of the former Nashville based pop punk band the Teen Idols. Depression Club is about slipping into a state of depression due to a variety of reasons. I found the song to be quite positive, showing the listener that they are not alone with their depression. Sympathy For Kevin takes a look at the complex situation of spurning someone of a different sexuality's unwanted advances. This is quite a unique topic for a song so I wonder if it's true to life for a member of the band. The song is quite simplistic with its lyrics, this makes it super accessible though and will spend a lot of time in your head whether you want it to or not. The third song is titled CTR. It's about looking back on your childhood and remembering the great times but also realising that it's in the past. Musically the song feels slightly more aggressive than the previous two tracks with DeMarco's drumming really standing out.

Noob is an interesting song. It's only one minute and thirty seconds long and the last thirty of those seconds is the outro. Trophy Jump manage to get everything that they want to say done in the first two thirds of the song and just use the end to have a bit of a jam. The track is about always trying your best and not being afraid to fail. If you do your best, that's all that matters. I love the positivity of this message. Wake Up Fool is just one minute long and easily the most aggressive song on Depression Club. Lead vocalist Alex really puts a lot of strain on his voice during the track and it comes off extremely passionately, sounds incredible and really makes me care about the song. The song is about realising that you're drinking too much and having a wakeup call about it. The sixth song on the album is titled April Fool's Day. April Fool's Day is a fun little song about simply getting too old to be able to play pranks on your friends. The age used as an example is 21 but I can confirm that it's still possible to play successful pranks when you're in your 30s.

16 Again is about getting older and yearning to be a teenager again. Trophy Jump use the examples of not being able to get drunk or high like they did when they were younger as reasons to miss their youth. This is another short and fun song that is quite catchy and will get a smile out of many people that relate to the content. The penultimate song is Trophy Jump's version of the theme tune to the popular Japanese animation Beyblades. I know this because I did some research like a good little album reviewer. The song isn't a complete carbon copy of the theme but takes a bit of the theme and makes it the band's own. The final song on Depression Club is named Trophy Jump. Yes, that's also the name of the band - it's not me making a mistake! The intro to the song builds the song up to make the listener aware that this will be the big ending of the album. Lyrically the song is very sad and is about really not thinking much of yourself as a human being. But this can also be cathartic because there are a alot of people who also feel this way and it's good to feel like you're not alone.

Trophy Jump are a fun new band on the European scene. Clearly influenced by a love of skate and pop punk, the band stick to those influences but add their own spin to things as well. I really liked the song topics, with plenty of themes that people will relate to and also enjoy.

Stream and download Depression Club here: https://trophyjump.bandcamp.com/releases

Like Trophy Jump here: https://www.facebook.com/trophyjump/

This review was written by Colin Clark.

Gig Review: The Menzingers at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London 3/2/18 (by Emma Prew)

Whenever Philadelphian punk rock heroes The Menzingers are in London I just have to be there. I’ve seen them go from playing relatively small capacity venues such as the Old Blue Last and The Underworld to the larger (for punk show, at least) places like the Scala and Koko – not to mention seeing them play the main stage at Fest. I’ve loved every single Menzingers show, some more than others of course, but I didn’t think the day they’d be headlining Academy venues would come around so soon. The Menzingers went from being a reasonably popular punk band to a super popular punk, or perhaps just alternative rock, band thanks to their latest album, After The Party. On 3rd February 2018 – which also happened to be the first birthday of that last album – The Menzingers headlined Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Bringing along Canadian punks Pup and fellow Philly band Cayetana, this was a gig not to be missed.

Opening up dates on The Menzingers’ UK and Europe tour were Cayetana, a three piece indie pop punk band from Philadelphia. I believe this tour was their first time in Europe and their excitement at playing overseas alongside Pup and The Menzingers to sizeable crowds really showed. They appeared comfortable but happily humble on the Shepherd’s Bush stage and lead vocalist and guitarist Augusta expressed how thrilled they were to be there – particularly commenting on how beautiful the venue is. She has a point, the old elaborate theatre ceilings and balconies are something that pub venues don’t have. We saw Cayetana at Fest in 2016 but I have to admit that I was overheating at the time, in the Floridian sunshine, and don’t recall much of their set. Because of this I was looking forward to seeing the band again – properly. They did not disappoint. I wasn’t familiar with the songs but they felt easily accessible. I was particularly impressed with Augusta’s vocals but the whole band was on top form. I don’t doubt that they gained more than a few new fans that night. 

Up next were a band who are arguably headliners in their own right – there were certainly enough people there who were probably more excited to see them than The Menzingers. The band I’m talking about is of course Toronto-based foursome, Pup. Pup have become a band that have been much talked and raved about over the past few years and they’ve become particularly popular with the poppier of punk crowds, despite being a fairly raw punk band themselves. There was a certain hype surrounding them that Colin and I didn’t really get until we saw them live in 2016 – at least, I feel like I got it after seeing them live for the first time but I’m not convinced Colin did! Either way, I was definitely keen to see Pup for a second time. Opening their set with Doubts, the crowd, particularly those at the front (where we were), wasted no time in exuding some energy. These pop punk kids certainly have a lot of energy! Compared to my first time seeing Pup, I felt like their live performance was a little less raw and a little more polished – I’m undecided whether this is good or bad. That said, I’d say I enjoyed them more and more as they went on. Particular highlights for me were Reservoir, from their self-titled album, and the medley of If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You and DVP that closed out their set. Overall I really enjoyed watching Pup and I’m pretty sure I’d enjoy watching them again.

We’d had two great performances from the support bands but I was now super excited to see one of my absolute favourite bands once more – The Menzingers. Opening their set with Tellin’ Lies wasn’t a great surprise. As After The Party’s opening track and with the huge singalong lines of ‘Where we gonna go when our twenties are over?’ this is the perfect set opener. The only thing more perfect was the next song, Good Things, which received an even bigger reaction – songs from On The Impossible Past always do to be fair. The Menzingers now have five full length albums, as well as a number of other releases, so when it comes to their live setlist it understandably features mostly their latest songs. However playing bigger venues, and therefore a longer set, means that they are able to throw in a few old favourites as well. The first of these at Shepherd’s Bush was A Lesson In The Abuse Of Information Technology from their debut album of the same name. I’m sure there were some newer Menzos fans who weren’t so familiar with this song but I certainly was and I went, well, a little crazy. I’d not realised how much I missed the swapping of vocal lines between Greg and Tom, as well as big harmonised choruses, until they played this song. It was brilliant. It wasn’t just the odd old song that had me pumped however, other set highlights included the massive sing/shoutalongs to Casey and The Obituaries, hearing relatively old track I Was Born and newer favourites Rodent and Your Wild Years. Greg made a point of mentioning that playing Shepherd’s Bush Empire was their biggest international show to date, as well as being After The Party’s first birthday, so this put a bigger emphasis on just how important this show was. Drawing towards the end of their set, there was further opportunity for singalongs with big crowd pleasers I Don’t Wanna Be An Asshole Anymore and Lookers. That wasn’t quite it of course as an Academy style venue calls for an encore. Just as Tellin’ Lies being the set opener wasn’t a great surprise to me, nor was the first song of the encore – After The Party. (Side note: There had been a fair few crowd surfers during the evening but during this song we spotted a familiar face in Hassan of Triple Sundae and On A Hiding To Nothing fame. It was nice to recognise someone amongst so many people!) As my favourite song of 2017, playing ATP was not a bad move in my book, in fact it was a great move. Even better was the transition into a cover of, ‘the only band that matters’, The Clash’s Straight To Hell. This is not an unusual cover for the band as it appears on their debut album but it was without a doubt a welcome addition to the evening. Straight To Hell, however, isn’t a Menzingers set closer. That honour fell to In Remission and gained one last sing song. Weirdly, someone appeared next to us brandishing a LED-lit crutch for the lines ‘If anyone needs a crutch then I need a wheelchair.’ Anything can happen at a Menzingers show, I guess!

I’ve seen The Menzingers close to ten times now and I’ll admit that this wasn’t their best performance by any stretch of the imagination. Greg’s vocals were perhaps showing signs of not being at their best (my voice wouldn’t be either singing and screaming night after night) and you could just say ‘Hey, but it’s a punk show. It’s not meant to be perfect.’ but then that’s kind of a contrast with where they’re at now – playing bigger stages, to bigger audiences. Of course I would take a small underground pub show over another Shepherd’s Bush gig but I still had the best time watching my favourite band and singing along to some of my favourite songs in the world. I lost my voice at a gig for the first time in forever so that says it all really. It was a really great night.

If you missed The Menzingers this time around or are simply dying to catch them live again, rumour has it they will be back in August and playing alongside an even more killer line-up than this one – Lagwagon, The Lawrence Arms, Bad Cop Bad Cop and The Lillingtons. The gig will be at The Forum in Kentish Town on the 3rd of August but as far as we are aware tickets are not on sale yet. I’d snap them up as soon as they are if I were you.

This gig review was written by Emma Prew. (I also took the photos.)

Columns: Why We Do What We Do by Pan of The Burnt Tapes

Hey, it’s me Pan and I’m here to tell you about the magical experience of being in a mediocre punk band. Let’s jump right in – a typical day on tour with the Burnt Tapes goes like this:

We wake up somewhere outside of Berlin in a private double decker bus with climate control and private bunks to a high protein breakfast cooked up by our private chef (Michel). Phil stumbles out of bed with an echinacea and green tea face mask on and shouts at Michel for a matcha tea. Tone is upset because his weed has too many stems in it and his subscription to FourFourTwo hasn’t arrived yet, so he wanders around aimlessly in his Armani Exchange boxers pretending to read an article in Elle magazine about “10 Ways to Please Your Lover”. Jo, sitting at the front of the bus smiling because he has just won £300 on an accumulator bet, is brought violently back to earth when he realises he didn’t actually confirm the bet due to spotty 4g reception. Our manager and hair/make-up artist Laura is shouting the word ‘tetanus’ at me because the night before I left after the show and was later found on a park bench spooning a homeless German man.

After our breakfast (organic salmon on rye bread with a side of caviar) we are whisked away to our next destination – a sold out Allianz Arena where we are opening for Blink-182. Laura argues that they should be opening for us and we all share a laugh. The show goes well, there are no brown M&Ms backstage and we end up doing cocaine off each other and sleeping with anything we want to sleep with. My mother calls but I ignore it and I momentarily catch my sullen reflection in the dark screen of my phone. We’ve made it.

Just kidding. I’m in the back of a car, under boxes of merch, sleeping bags and a half eaten pack of crisps with an amp digging into my hip. We’re 3 hours into a 8 hour drive and everything looks fucked up from here. It’s grey, it’s raining, we’re in Belgium. I think After The Party has been on repeat for the last 2 hours but no one seems to notice. I’m horny but also I’m not. It’s day 2 of our 5th European tour and I already want to go home. Being in a band is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. The soaring highs, the crushing lows and the dead times in between. One minute you’re playing a show with a band you grew up listening to, the next you’re playing to literally nobody. Instead of sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll it’s petrol money, P&O channel crossings and huddling together in our sleeping bags for warmth. Why the fuck do we do this?

P&O ferry breakfasts – just one of the perks of the job

I like bullet points so here we go.

Pros of being in a band:

1. The joy of creating and playing music for yourself, even if no one listens or cares
2. The joy of collaborating with awesome people to make art, merch and music videos for your mediocre band
3. The opportunity to travel and visit places you wouldn’t be able to find on a map let alone play a show in
4. Temporarily getting away from an unfulfilling day job
5. The opportunity to meet like minded people at home and abroad
6. The opportunity to play with your heroes but also with the local band who realise halfway through their set that their bassist isn’t plugged in
7. Spending all your money on guitars and guitar pedals
8. The experience of doing all of this with your friends

Cons of being in a band:

1. It’s tough work and mentally exhausting at times
2. It will take up a lot of your spare time
3. It will take up a lot of your money
4. Your parents and friends will think you are crazy
5. Spending all your money on guitars and guitar pedals
6. The experience of doing all of this with your friends

I’ve always been ambivalent about it and still am. I’ve almost quit the band a handful of times, I’ve had to miss tours, chose to sit in the van or walk around Ipswich town centre for hours just to get through a show.

The flip side to that is that four flawed humans with a common goal, get to write and record music, play it in different countries and make physical records that one day we can show our kids and grandkids. Life is weird and short, so there’s a certain solace in knowing that you created something not only for yourself but possibly for others to enjoy too. The 13 year old punk rocker in me still can’t quite believe that we play shows where people actually turn up so it’s nice to tell him to chill out once in a while.

Being in a band will teach you a lot of things outside of the confines of a stuffy office – dedication, discipline, organisation, crisis management, how to poop standing up etc. (quick shout-out to Tone and Phil who deal with all the real-life, mundane band stuff while Jo and I get pedicures). You will meet super nice people who will give you food and a couch/floor to sleep on, so that when you next travel by yourself you have no problem falling asleep in a 32 person hostel room where the couple next to you have had a bit too much sangria. Maybe you’ll learn a bit about community and supporting your local scene too.

It’s an interesting reflection on where passion and hard work can get you and ultimately serves as a lesson for life outside of the band. For the first 2 years (the cutting your teeth phase) we played shows all the time, anywhere we could get them (we once drove to Berlin and back for a single show). Since then it’s always been important for us to keep moving forward – outlining one goal, reaching it, then setting another. Re-think, re-calibrate, set our sights on something bigger. Always moving forward together, like Spartans but without the CGI muscles. And once you get some momentum going, things start to shift and the fruits of your labours start popping up in the dankest of places.

So start a band, be shit at the start, be a little less shit a year later and maybe one day be decent. Whatever happens, at the end of the day at least you can say you gave it a shot, eh?

Stream and download The Burnt Tapes music here and like them here.

The band are doing a short tour soon. Be sure to catch them if you're near any of these places.

Top Tens: Toodles & The Hectic Pity's Top Ten Punk Rock Influences

The Mountain Goats, in particular “All Hail West Texas”
I’d be pretty remiss if I didn’t mention The Mountain Goats. They’re not mine, or our, favourite band, but their influence on us is undeniable. For much of their music, they manage to turn quite simple guitar chords and ideas into these sort of epic, life-changing songs through the way that they’re played and also by the urgency with which the songs spring to life. That kind of urgency is what I’ve always aimed for in songwriting: just getting it all out as fast as you can and hoping not to think about it too much.

Shit Present
Another huge influence on our songwriting have been Shit Present. They’re just a brilliant band with really honest and catchy songs about some pretty depressing things, which is always what we’ve been trying to channel. If you’re not somehow getting something halfway true or real into what you’re doing then I’m not sure what the point is.

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Along with the Mountain Goats, this is a pretty white male choice of an influence, which I can accept. I also can accept the massive, massive flaws of this book and of DFW as a writer and of the sort of people who appreciate his work. However, I do really like Infinite Jest and it’s ok to have problematic favourites, if you can acknowledge and absorb those flaws. In terms of inspiration, it’s just some of the sentences that sort of unveil the lurking, latent horrors that exist behind our everyday modern existence and that’s had a pretty huge influence on the songs, lyrically speaking.

ONSIND and Martha
Both ONSIND and Martha, in their own separate ways, had a huge influence on the band. ONSIND, both sound-wise and lyrically, are a band we’ve taken a lot from, me and Max having watched them for the first time while quite hammered at the Deadpunk All Dayer after the 2015 General Election. This was at a pretty formative time for us as a band (we were only really writing songs together and playing them to no one) and so it’s hard not to thank them enough for the innumerable, tiny ways their music influenced us.

Ursula K Le Guin
This probably has no musical analogue that I can shoehorn in but one of my favourite novelists, Ursula K Le Guin, passed away this week and I’ve been thinking about her work ever since. It’s kind of everything I think good art should be: imaginative, political, feminist, expansive, good-hearted and warm. Also, science-fiction and fantasy as a whole have been pretty influential on me in the last few years and all influences seep into what you do somehow or another.

Camp Cope
While we were recording Call in Sick I hadn’t listened to any Camp Cope, but they’re influencing what we’re writing now pretty damn heavily, which is unavoidable because they’re one of the best punk bands going right now and just utterly inspirational humans.

Jake & the Jellyfish
Without getting sentimental, growing up around my brother’s music had a pretty huge influence on what Toodles ended up becoming (which people have noticed). Not just their music but the bands they played with ended up being bands I heard, which then got me into the punk and DIY scenes and so on. And they’re getting better and better and their new record is probably my favourite yet. Also embarrassingly my younger sister is the person who recommended almost every band I’ve ever liked to me. Family is good!

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
This is the book that woke me up to reading and then by extension art and music. It’s funny and sad and simple. Also as a person I’ve found Kurt Vonnegut more interesting as I get older. Our heroes end up disappointing us, and there’s plenty to dislike with Vonnegut, but something I always think about is in his collected letters he so frequently talks about how he perceives himself as failing; how he believes that he’s probably never going to produce anything good ever again; how he, for so long, wrote novels in evenings after a grueling and uninspiring job. And he only went on to be recognised as one of the great American novelists. I find that heartwarming.

The Bristol Scene
We would not be the band we are or maybe even a band at all without the Bristol community, specifically the community surrounding the Exchange and other independent venues, and labels like Specialist Subject Records and Invisible Llama Music. It’s easy to forget that creating a welcoming scene that encourages young musicians and music-lovers from all kinds of backgrounds — to not just come and watch but to participate and make their own art — is the only way that the music scene and venues as we know it are going to survive and grow. This isn’t specific to Bristol, but that’s just where we happen to live, and the community that have taken us under their wing are pretty much the only reason we’re doing anything and sometimes it feels like they contribute more to the music we play than we do.

Checkout Toodles & The Hectic Pity on Bandcamp here and like them on Facebook here.